Originally published: September 13, 2011

SMALL

MEDIUM

LARGE

Celebrating 125 years in the car-building business, Mercedes-Benz showcased a car that raises a glass to that heritage with the F-125! Gullwing concept at the 2011 Frankfurt show. The hydrogen-powered car is what can be expected of Mercedes by 2025, the company says, and will be able to travel up to 1,000 kilometres and produce zero emissions. It’s a part of three-lane path that Mercedes is following, one using efficiencies in the internal combustion engine, one using electric vehicles in urban settings, and the other, hydrogen-powered cars. The sleek-looking F-125! (does it really need the exclamation?) is a luxurious four-seater surrounded by a body made of different metals and composites. Touch, speed, and hand gestures will apparently allow for semi-autonomous driving.

Mercedes also revealed its first extended-range electric vehicle, which the company says will go into production. Similar to the Chevrolet Volt, the B-Class E-Cell Plus uses a lithium-ion battery to give a battery-only range of 100 kilometres. When those go dead, a 67-horsepower, 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbocharged gas engine steps in to extend the range to about 500 kms, but also charge the battery via a generator. All told, there’s about 136 horsepower from the electric drive system, good for zero to 100 km/h times of 11 seconds and a top speed of about 150 km/h. There was no word on a firm launch date.